Three little letters, huge implications, sometimes provoking major techtonic shifts; saying “Yes” to God can seriously alter the topography of your life. As our seasons change, our son Joel in college, my parents promoted to glory within 3 months of each other, we’ve been seriously asking God, “What is our next big “Yes!”? A dear friend provoked us into dreaming with God sessions, and out of it came something very unexpected, something only God could pull off, something we need our friends to pray into, and join us in the discerning process. It involves traveling to Sudan, in September to begin producing a film, which is about a lady named Mamma Shekinah...

Creating a Film of this Generation's Elizabeth Elliot,
a Lady named Mamma Shekinah

On recently returning from Gulu, Northern Uganda, I found myself incessantly telling anyone who would listen, the story of a lady named Hedwig, aka Mamma Shekinah. It was a gripping story, a story of martyrdom, courage, jaw-dropping trust. It was an unforgettable story worthy of serious listening. I felt it was a Trojan horse story, something that once you heard it, it would sneak up on you and occupy your soul. I told it on the plane home to an Armenian couple sitting next to me, I told it on the bus at the airport that took me to my car. I wove it into conversations at an ASK conference in Chicago. The story would not leave me.

Hedwig, along with her three year old daughter, Shekinah, returned in July to Sudan to the exact spot where the amazing story took place. Near Yei, Sudan, Hedwig is returning to the site where she and Colin were mercilessly attacked by the LRA. This is where she not only lost the love of her life, but began to lose the child she was carrying. Hedwig will teach a workshop there on trauma counseling. We believe God has invited us to accompany her, and create a documentary film of her story. We believe it's the first of many stories we are called to film.

Hedwig's experience is a redemptive story that we believe will be instructive to the global church in coming days. As persecution and martyrdom increase, the power of forgiveness, the power of loving one's enemies, will become a crucial lifestyle for all those who call Jesus Lord. Os Guinness, author of The Call , writes, “God's primary call, his address to us, always has two dimensions: summons and invitation, law and grace, demand and offer. Unquestionably the former comes first, yet that side of it is missing among many followers of Christ today. The result is a casualness in faith and a slackness in behavior that show no sign of having listened to any call from either Sinai or Galilee, let alone Calvary.”

We believe this story is timely and needed in this hour of testing and trial. We believe it will encourage people to live lives of selfless abandon no matter the cost. We deeply desire your prayers, your discernment, your love, and yes, even your financial gifts if God so leads. We are deeply involved in pre-production, designing the storyboarding, planning the shots, the angle of story. Someone said that creating a film is like building a house.

If you use the house analogy for creating film, pre-production is like drawing up the blue prints, making sure the specs are right, getting approval etc. Production (the shooting of the film) is similar to gathering the materials, the wood, the steel, the elements of beauty, the builders. Post-production, is where the actual house gets built. It is the editing, the layering of music and voice over, the assembling that makes a visual and spiritual impact on the eyes and soul.

We need your prayers through all three phases of production , pre-production, production, our time in Sudan (around 10 days), and post-production which we are thinking will be 3 to 4 months.

As you can imagine, Sudan is not the optimal location for shooting film . It's incredibly hot, electricity isn't always available, you can get shot for shooting someone who didn't want their picture taken...you can see, why we really want to bathe this production in prayer.

We're inviting you to do three things-Pray, Pray, and Pray . We are starting a Saturday morning prayer conference call beginning at 8:30 am Pacific Standard time every Saturday morning until we return from Africa . We'd love to join with you across this nation for thirty minutes. If you're pressed for time just call in and join us for a few minutes. The conference call number is: (605) 475-4810 then punch in the following access code 205666#

We'd like you to promote prayer for us by passing on this request to people of like heart who carry God's heart for the nations. They don't need to know us, to catch the vision for this film.

We'd like you to pray particularly for Hedwig, and her daughter, Shekinah , as they have returned to a place of great grief. That there will be in their return a powerful declaration to the powers of God's unfathomable grace and redemption. (Hedwig, also called Mamma Shekinah on left).

1. Jesus to get maximum glory globally through this film... 2. That God would bless Joey, Fawn and Joshua to produce something way beyond their technical, artistic, and experience level. 3. For physical protection of the team and camera equipment. For compelling audio, and visuals in a harsh landscape. 4. For exceptional unity among the team while traveling under very trying circumstances, and climate 5. That God would produce something worthy of His name, and worthy of Colin and Hedwig's profound story.

If you'd like to give to this new venture of obedience you can click on the donate button below.